1. Field:
This invention relates to systems and methods for projecting images onto substrates. More particularly, the invention involves systems and methods for projecting images onto uneven surfaces in a preselected scale reflective of a remote surface.
2. State of the Art:
Today a wide variety of apparatus are available for projecting images. For example, slide projectors may be used to project images earlier filmed and processed into slides onto a screen for viewing by a viewer. Similarly, overhead projectors may be used to project images present on pre-prepared transparencies. Further, movie films are widely used in both artistic and educational environments to present what is perceived to be moving images.
All of the above images are generally projected onto what is typically referred to as a movie screen. Movie screens have different surface characteristics, including a lenticular surface, all to enhance the quality of the image perceived. Nevertheless, movie screen surfaces are typically planar or flat surfaces.
Efforts to create stereoscopic or three-dimensional visual images in recent years have typically employed imaging systems in which one or more images are projected onto flat screens or similar flat surfaces. The use of polarized glasses, for example, may be used so that the left eye would perceive a horizontally polarized image, and the right eye would perceive a subsequently projected vertically polarized image. The vertical and horizontal polarized images are projected rapidly in sequence in order to secure what may be viewed or perceived by the viewer as a three-dimensional or stereoscopic image. However, all of these images are nonetheless still projected onto a typical movie screen or similar flat surface.
An imaging system and method for projecting images which are realistically three-dimensional and reflective of a remote surface is needed, particularly in selected situations in which certain remote surfaces are to be examined.